SERMON I.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile—Ps. XXXII. 1, 2.

THE title of this psalm is ‘A psalm of instruction,’ and so
called be cause David was willing to show them the way to happiness from his own
experience. Surely no lesson is so needful to be learned as this. We all would
be happy: the good and bad, that do so seldom agree in anything, yet agree in
this, a desire to be happy. Now, happy we cannot be but in God, who is the only,
immutable, eternal, and all-sufficient good, which satisfies and fills up all
the capacities and desires of our souls. And we are debarred from access to him
by sin, which hath made a breach and separation between him and us, and till
that be taken away there can be no converse, and sin can only be taken away by
God’s pardon upon Christ’s satisfaction. God’s pardon is clearly asserted in my
text, but Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness must be supplied out of other
scriptures, as that 2 Cor. v. 19, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.’ Where the apostle clearly shows
that not imputing transgressions is the effect of God’s grace in Christ. And we
do no wrong to this text to take it in here; for the apostle, citing this scripture Rom. iv. 6, 7, tells us, that
‘David describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works, when he saith, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin.’

In the words you have:—

1. An emphatical setting forth of a great and blessed privilege; that
is, pardon of sin.

2. A description of the persons who shall enjoy it: in whose spirit
there is no guile.

The privilege is that I shall confine my thoughts to; it is set forth
in three expressions: forgiving transgression, covering of sin, and
not imputing iniquity. The manner of speech is warm and vehement,
and it is repeated over again: blessed is the man.

I shall show what these three expressions import, and why the
prophet doth use such vehemency and emphatical inculcation in setting forth this privilege.

1. Whose transgression is forgiven, or who is eased of his transgression; where sin is compared to a burden too heavy for us to bear,
as also it is in other scriptures: Mat. xi. 28, ‘Come to me, all ye that
are weary and heavy laden.’

2. Whose sin is covered; alluding to the covering of filth, or the 178removing of that which is offensive out of sight. As the
Israelites were to inarch with a paddle tied to their arms, that when they went
to ease themselves they might dig, and cover that which came from them: Deut.
xxiii., you have the law there, and the reason of it, ver. 14, ‘For the Lord
thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp; therefore shall thy camp be holy, that
he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.’

And then the third expression is, to whom the Lord imputeth no
sin; that is, doth not put sin to their account. Where sin is compared to a debt, as it is also in the Lord’s Prayer: Mat. vi. 12,
‘Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.’ Thus is the act
set forth.

The object of pardon about which it is conversant is set forth under
divers expressions—iniquity, transgression, and sin; as in law many
words of like import and signification are heaped up and put together,
to make the deed and legal instrument more comprehensive and effectual. I observe it the rather because, when God proclaims
his name, the
same words are used: Exod. xxxiv. 7, ‘Taking away iniquity, transgression, and sin.’ Well, we have seen the meaning of the expression.
Why doth the holy man of God use such vigour and vehemency of inculcation—‘Blessed is the man,’ and again ‘Blessed is the
man’?
Partly with respect to his own case. David knew how sweet it was to
have sin pardoned; he had felt the bitterness of sin in his own soul, to
the drying up of his blood, and therefore he doth express his sense of
pardon in the most lively terms—‘Blessed is the man whose iniquity is
forgiven.’ And then partly too with respect to those for whose
use this instruction was written, that they might not look upon it as a
light and trivial thing, but be thoroughly apprehensive of the worth
of so great a privilege. Blessed, happy, thrice happy, they who have
obtained pardon of their sins, and justification by Jesus Christ.

The doctrine, then, which I shall insist upon is this: That it
is a great degree and step towards, yea, a considerable part of our blessedness, to obtain the pardon of our sins by Christ
Jesus. I shall evidence it to
you by these three considerations:—

1. I shall show what necessity lies upon us to seek after this
pardon.

2. Our misery without it.

3. I shall speak of the annexed benefits, and our happiness if once
we attain it.

1. The necessity that lies upon us, being all guilty before God, to
seek after our justification, and the pardon of our sins by Christ. That
it may sink the deeper into your minds, I shall do it in this scheme or
method:—First, A reasonable nature implies a conscience; a conscience
implies a law; a law implies a sanction; a sanction implies a judge,
and a judgment-day (when all shall be called to account for breaking
the law); and this judgment-day infers a condemnation upon all man
kind unavoidably, unless the Lord will compromise the matter, and
find out some way in the chancery of the gospel wherein we may be
relieved. This way God hath found out in Christ, and being brought
about by such a mysterious contrivance, we ought to be deeply and
thankfully apprehensive of it, and humbly and broken-heartedly to 179quit the one covenant, and accept of the grace provided for us in
the other.

[1.] A reasonable nature implies a conscience; for man can reflect
upon his own actions, and hath that in him to acquit or condemn him
accordingly as he doth good or evil, 1 John iii. 20, 21. Conscience is
nothing but the judgment a man makes upon his actions morally considered, the good or the evil, the rectitude or obliquity,
that is in them
with respect to rewards or punishment. As a man acts, so he is a
party; but as he reviews and censures his actions, so he is a judge.
Let us take notice only of the condemning part, for that is proper to
our case. After the fact, the force of conscience is usually felt more
than before or in the fact; because before, through the treachery of the
senses, and the revolt of the passions, the judgment of reason is not
so clear. I say, our passions and affections raise clouds and mists
which darken the mind, and do incline the will by a pleasing violence;
but after the evil action is done, when the affection ceaseth, then guilt
flasheth in the face of conscience. As Judas, whose heart lay asleep
all the while he was going on in his villainy, but afterwards it fell upon
him. Thou hast ‘sinned in betraying innocent blood.’ When the
affections are satisfied, and give place to reason, that was before condemned, and reason takes the throne again, it hath
the more force to
affect us with grief and fear, whilst it strikes through the heart of a
man with a sharp sentence of reproof for obeying appetite before reason.
Now this conscience of sin may be choked and smothered for a while,
but the flame will break forth, and our hidden fears are easily revived
and awakened, except we get our pardon and discharge. A reasonable nature implies a conscience.

[2.] A conscience implies a law, by which good and evil are distinguished; for if we make conscience of anything, it must
be by virtue
of some law or obligation from God, who is our maker and governor,
and unto whom we are accountable, and whose authority giveth a force
and warrant to the warnings and checks of conscience, without which
they would be weak and ineffectual, and all the hopes and fears they
stir up in us would be vain fancies and fond surmises. I need not
insist upon this, a conscience implies a law. The heathens had a law,
because they had a conscience: Rom. ii. 15, ‘Which show the work
of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one
another.’ They have a conscience doth accuse or excuse, doth require
according to the tenor of the law. So when the apostle speaks of
those stings of conscience that are revived in us by the approach of
death, he saith, 1 Cor. xv. 56, ‘The sting of death is sin, and the
strength of sin is the law.’ Those stings which men feel in a death-threatening sickness, are not the fruits of their disease,
but, justified by
the highest reason; they come from a sense of sin y and this sense is
strengthened and increased in us by the law of God, from whence conscience receives all its force.

[3.] A law implies a sanction, or a confirmation by penalties
and
rewards; for otherwise it is but an arbitrary rule or direction, which
we might slight or disregard without any great loss or danger. No;
the law is armed with a dreadful curse against all those that disobey 180it. There is no dallying with God, he hath set life and death before
us; life and good, death and evil, Deut. xxx. 15. Now the precept,
that is the rule of our duty, and the sanction is the rule of God’s process, what God will do, or might do, and what we have deserved
should
be done to us. The one shows what is due from us to God, and the
other what may justly be expected at God’s hands; therefore, before
the penalty be executed, it concerns us to get a pardon. The scripture
represents God as ‘angry with the wicked every day,’ standing continually with his bow ready, with his arrow upon the string,
as ready
to let fly, with his sword not only drawn but whetted, as if he were
just about to strike, if we turn not, Ps. vii. 11-13.

[4.] A sanction implies a judge, who will take cognisance of the
keeping or breaking of this law; for otherwise the sanction or penalty
were but a vain scarecrow, if there were no person to look after it.
God, that is our maker and governor, is our judge. Would he
appoint penalties for the breach of his law, and never reckon with us
for our offences, is a thought so unreasonable, so much against the
sense of conscience, against God’s daily providence, against scripture,
which everywhere (in order to this, to quicken us to seek forgiveness
of sins) represents God as a judge. Conscience is afraid of an invisible
judge, who will call us to account for what we have done. The apostle
tells us, Rom. i. 32, the heathen ‘knew the judgment of God, and that
they that have done such things as they have done are worthy of death.’
And providence shows us there is such a judge that looks after the keeping and breaking of his law, hath owned every part
of it from heaven by
the judgments he executes: Rom. i. 18, ‘The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;’ hath
owned either table, by punishing sometimes the ungodliness, and some
times the unrighteousness of the world; nay, every notable breach by
way of omission or commission. The apostle saith, ‘every transgression,’ and ‘every disobedience.’ These two words signify
sins of omission
or commission: it hath been punished, and God hath owned his law,
that it is a firm authentic rule. And the scripture also usually makes
use of this notion or argument of a judge to quicken us to look after
the pardon of our sins: Acts x. 42, 43, ‘And he hath commanded us to preach and
testify to the people, that it is he that was ordained of God to be the judge of
the quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’ So Acts iii. 19-21.
Surely we that are to appear before the bar of an impartial judge, being so
obnoxious to him for the breach of his holy law, what have we to do but to make
supplication to our judge, and prevent execution by a submissive asking of a
pardon, and accepting the grace God hath provided?

[5.] A judge implies a judgment-day, or some time when his justice
must have a solemn trial, when he will reckon with the lapsed world.
He reckons sometimes with nations now, for ungodliness and unrighteousness, by wars, and pestilence, and famine. He reckons
with particular persons at their death, and when their work is done he pays
them their wages: Heb. ix. 27, ‘It is appointed for all men once to
die, and after that the judgment.’ But there is a more general and
final judgment, when his justice must have a solemn trial, which is in 181part evident in nature; for the apostles did slide in the Christian
doctrine mostly by this means into the hearts of those to whom they
preached: Acts xxiv. 25, ‘He reasoned of righteousness, temperance,
and judgment to come.’ The particularity of it belongs to the gospel
revelation, but nature hath some kind of sense of it in itself, and they
are urged to repent, ‘because God hath appointed a day wherein he
will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he hath
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he
hath raised him from the dead,’ Acts xvii. 31. God judgeth the world
in patience now, but then in righteousness, when all things shall be
reviewed, and everything restored; virtue to its public honour, and
vice to its due shame.

[6.] If there be a solemn judgment-day, when every one must receive
his final doom, this judgment certainly infers a condemnation to a
fallen creature, unless God set up another court for his relief; for now
man is utterly disenabled by sin to fulfil the law, and can by no means
avoid the punishment that is due to his transgression. I shall prove
this by three reasons:—The law to fallen man is impossible; the penalty
is intolerable; and the punishment, for aught that yet appears, if God
do not take another course, is unavoidable.

(1.) The duty of the law is impossible. The apostle tells us ‘what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the weakness of our
flesh.’ It could not justify us before God, it could not furnish us with
any answer to his demands, when he shall call us to an account. Man
is mightily addicted to the legal covenant, therefore it is one part of a
gospel minister’s work to represent the impossibility of ever obtaining
grace or life by that covenant. Man would stick to the law as long as
he can, and will patch up a sorry righteousness of his own, some few
superficial things. He makes a short exposition of the law, that he
may cherish a large opinion of his own righteousness; and curtails
the law of God, that the ell may be no longer than the cloth, and
brings it down to a poor contemptible thing, requiring a few external
superficial duties of men. We read often of being ‘dead to sin,’ and ‘to the world;’ it is as certainly true we must be
‘dead to the law.’
Now how are we dead to the law? The scripture tells us in one
place, that ‘through the law we are dead to the law;’ and in another
place, that we are ‘dead to the law through the body of Christ.’ The
first place is Gal. ii. 19, ‘Through the law I am dead to the law.’
Men are apt to stand to the legal covenant, and have their confidence
in the flesh, to place their hopes of acceptance with God in some few
external things, which they make their false righteousness. For the
carnal world, as it cries up a false happiness as its God, so men have
a false righteousness which is their Christ. Now through the law they
are dead to it. How? The law supposeth us as innocent, and requires
us to continue so: ‘Cursed is every one that continues not in every
thing.’ Suppose a man should exactly fulfil it afterwards, yet the
paying of new debts will not quit old scores. And then we are ‘dead
to the law by the body of Christ,’ Rom. vii. 4; by the crucified body
of Christ, by which he hath merited and purchased a better hope and
grace for us. Well, the duty is impossible.

(2.) The penalty is intolerable, for who can stand when God is 182angry? Ezek. xxii. 14, ‘Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands
be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee?’ We that cannot
endure the pain of the gout or stone, how shall we endure the eternal
wrath of God? It is surely a very ‘dreadful thing to fall into the
hands of that living God,’ that lives for ever to punish the transgressors
of his law.

(3.) The punishment is unavoidable, unless sin be pardoned, and
you submit to God’s way: for I would ask you, what hope can you have in Go4,
whose nature engageth him to hate sin, and whose justice obligeth him to
punish it?

(1st.) Whose nature engageth him to hate sin and sinners: Hab. i.
13, ‘He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.’ I urge this for a
double reason: partly because I have observed that all the security of
sinners, and their neglect of seeking after pardon by Jesus Christ, it
comes from their lessening thoughts of God’s holiness; and if their
hearts were sufficiently possessed with an awe of God’s unspotted
purity and holiness, they would more look after the terms of grace God
hath provided: Ps. l. 21, ‘Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an
one as thyself.’ Why do men live securely in their sins, and do not
break off their evil course? They think God is not so severe and
harsh, and so .all their confidence is grounded upon a mistake of God’s
nature, and such a dreadful mistake as amounts to a blasphemy: ‘Thou
thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself.’ The other reason
is this, particularly because I observe the bottom reason of all the fear
that is in the hearts of men is God’s holiness: 1 Sam. vi. 20, ‘Who
is able to stand before this holy God?’ and ‘Who would not fear
thee? for thou art holy,’ Rev. xv. 4. We fear his power; why?
because it is .set on work by his wrath. We fear his wrath; why?
because it is kindled by his justice and righteousness. We fear his
righteousness, because it is bottomed and grounded upon his holiness,
and upon the purity of his nature.

(2dly.) His justice obligeth him to punish sin, that the law might not
seem to be made in vain. It concerns the universal judge to maintain
the reputation of his justice in reference to men, and to appear to them
still as a righteous God: Gen. xviii. 25, ‘Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right?’ and Rom. iii. 5, 6, ‘Is God unrighteous to take
vengeance? how then shall he judge the world?’ These scriptures
imply, that if there were the least blemish, if you could suppose he
should fail in point of righteousness, this were to be denied, that God
should be the judge of the world. Therefore God’s righteousness and
justice, which gives to every one their due, must shine in its proper
place; he will give vengeance to whom vengeance is due, and blessing
to whom blessing belongs. In our case punishment belongs to us, and
what can we expect from this God but wrath and eternal destruction?
Therefore if all this be so, if a conscience suppose a law, a law a
sanction, a sanction a judge—a judge some time when his justice must
have a solemn trial, and this will necessarily infer condemnation to a
fallen creature—what then shall we do?

[7.] From this condemnation there is no escape, unless God set up
another court and chancery of the gospel, where condemned sinners
may be taken to mercy, and their sins forgiven, and they justified and 183accepted unto grace and life, Upon terms that may salve God’s honour
and government over mankind. There is a great deal of difference
between the forgiving private wrongs and injuries, and the pardoning
of public offences; between the pardon of a magistrate, and the pardon
of a private person. When equals fall out among themselves, they
may end their differences in charity, and in such ways as best please
themselves, by a mere forgiving, by acquitting the sense of the wrong
done, or a bare submission of the party offending. But the case is different here: God is not reconciled to us merely as the
party offended,
but as the governor of the world; the case lies between the judge of the
world and sinning mankind; therefore it must not be ended by mere
compromise and agreement, but by satisfaction, that his law may be
satisfied, and the honour of his justice secured. Therefore to make
the pardon of man a thing convenient to the righteous and holy judge
to bestow, without any impeachment to the honour of his justice and
authority of his law, the Lord finds out this great mystery, ‘God manifested in our flesh,’ Jesus Christ is ‘made under the
law, to redeem
them that were under the law,’ Gal. iv. 5; and is ‘become a propitiation to
satisfy God’s justice,’ Rom. iii. 25, 26. And so God shows
mercy to his creatures, and yet the awe of his government is kept up,
and a full demonstration of his righteousness is given to the world.

[8.] This being done conveniently to God’s honour, we must sue out
our pardon with respect to both the covenants, both that which we
have broken, the law of nature, and that which is made in Christ, and
is to be accepted by us as our sanctuary and sure refuge.

(1.) We must have a broken-hearted sense of sin, and of the curse
due to the first covenant; for it is the disease brings us to the physician; the curse drives us to the promise, and the tribunal
of justice to
the throne of grace; and the avenger of blood at our heels, that causeth
us to fly to our proper city of refuge, and to take sanctuary at the
Lord’s grace, Heb. vi. 18. So that if you mince and extenuate sin,
you seem to hold to the first covenant, and had rather plead innocent
than guilty. No; if you would have this favour, you must confess your
sins: 1 John i. 9, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ You
must confess your sins, and with that remorse that will become offences
done to so great a God. And there must not only be a sense of sin,
but of the curse and merit of sin also; for we must not only accuse,
but judge ourselves, that God may not judge and condemn us, 1 Cor.
xi. 31. Self-accusing respects sin, and is acted in confession; self-judging respects the curse or punishment that is due to us
for sin,
and it is a person’s pronouncing upon himself according to the tenor
of the law what is his due, acknowledging his guilt, and this with
much brokenness of heart before God, when he hath involved himself
in God’s eternal wrath and displeasure. I observe, that the law-covenant is in the scripture compared to a prison, wherein
God hath shut up
guilty souls, Rom. xi. 32, ‘He hath concluded or shut them up, that
he may have mercy upon them;’ Gal. iii. 21, ‘He hath shut them up
under sin.’ The law is God’s prison, and no offenders can get out of
it till they have God’s leave; and from him they have none, till they
are sensible of the justice and righteousness of that first dispensation, 184confess their sins with brokenness of heart, and that it may be just
with God to condemn them for ever.

(2.) We must thankfully accept the Lord’s grace, that offers pardon
to us. For since God is pleased to try us a second time, and set us
up with a new stock of grace, and that brought about in such a
wonderful way, that he may recover the lost creation to himself, surely if
we shall despise our remedy, after we have rendered ourselves incapable
of our duty, no condemnation is bad enough for us, John iii. 18, 19.
Therefore we should admire the mercy of God in Christ, and have
such a deep sense of it, that it may check our sinful self-love, which
hath been our bane and ruin. And since God showed himself willing
to be reconciled, we must enter into his peace, not look upon ourselves
in a hopeless and desperate condition, but depend upon the merit,
sacrifice, and intercession of Christ, and be encouraged by his gracious
promise and covenant to ‘come with boldness, that we may find grace
and mercy to help in a time of need,’ Heb. iv. 16. Thus you see the
need we have to look after this pardon of sin.

2. Secondly, I must show our misery without this; and this will be
best done by considering the notions here in the text. Here is filth
to be covered, a burden of which we must be eased; and here is a
debt that must be cancelled: and unless this be, what a miserable condition are
we in!

[1.] What a heavy burden is sin, where it is not pardoned! Carnal
men feel it not for the present: elements are not burdensome in their
own place; but how soon may they feel it! Two sorts of consciences
feel the burden of sin—a tender conscience, and a wounded conscience.
It is grievous to a tender heart, that values the love of God, to lie
under the guilt of sin, and to be obnoxious to his wrath and displeasure: Ps. xxxviii. 4, ‘Mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as a
burden too heavy for me.’ Broken bones are sensible of the least
weight; certainly a broken heart cannot make light of sin. What
kind of hearts are those that sin securely, and without remorse, and
are never troubled? Go to wounded consciences, and ask of them
what sin is: Gen. iv. 13, ‘Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear;’ Prov. xviii. 14, ‘A wounded spirit, who can bear?’ As long as the
evil lies without us, it is tolerable, the natural courage of a man may
bear up under it; but when the spirit itself is wounded with the sense
of sin, who can bear it? If a spark of God’s wrath light upon the
conscience, how soon do men become a burden to themselves; and
some have chosen strangling rather than life. Ask Cain, ask Judas,
what it is to feel the burden of sin. Sinners are ‘all their lifetime
subject to this bondage;’ it is not always felt, but soon awakened: it
may be done by a pressing exhortation at a sermon; it may be done
by some notable misery that befalls us in the world; it may be done
by a scandalous sin; it may be done by a grievous sickness, or worldly
disappointment. All these things and many more may easily revive
it in us. There needs not much ado to put a sinner in the stocks of
conscience. Therefore do but consider to be eased of this burden; oh the
blessedness of it!

[2.] It is filth to be covered, which renders us odious in the sight of
God. It is said, Prov. xiii. 5, that ‘a sinner is loathsome.’ To 185whom? To God. Certainly he is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. To good men. ‘The wicked is an abomination to the
righteous;’ the new nature hath an aversion to it. Lot’s righteous
soul was vexed from day to day with the conversation of the wicked.
A wicked man hates a godly man with a hatred of enmity and
abomination; but a godly man doth not hate a wicked man with a
hatred of enmity—that is opposite to good-will—but with that of
abomination, which is opposite to complacence. It is loathsome to
an indifferent man, for holiness darts an awe and reverence into the
conscience. ‘The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour,’ and a wicked person is a vile person in the common esteem
of the
world: horrible profaneness will not easily down. Nay, it is loath
some to other wicked men. I do not know whether I expound that
scripture rightly, but it looks somewhat so, ‘Hateful and hating one
another.’ We hate sin in another, though we will not take notice of
it in ourselves. The sensuality and pride and vanity of one wicked
man is hated by another; nay, he is loathsome to himself. Why?
because he cannot endure to look into himself. We cannot endure
ourselves when we are serious. ‘They will not come to the light, lest
their deeds should be reproved.’ And we are shy of God’s presence;
we are sensible we have something makes us offensive to him, and we
hang off from him when we have sinned against him; as it was
David’s experience, Ps. xxxii. 3. That was the cause of his silence:
he kept off from God, having sinned against him, and had not a heart
to go home and sue out his pardon. Oh, what a mercy is it, then, to
have this filth covered, that we may be freed from this bashful inconfidence, and not be ashamed to look God in the face,
and may come
with a holy boldness into the presence of the blessed God! Oh, the blessedness
of the man whose sin is covered!

[3.] It is a debt that binds the soul to everlasting
punishment; and if it be not pardoned, the judge will give us over to the
jailer, and the jailer cast us into prison, ‘till we have paid the uttermost
farthing,’ Luke xii. 59. To have so vast a debt lying upon us, what a misery is
that! Augustus bought that man’s bed who could sleep soundly when he was in debt
so many hundred of sesterces. Certainly it is a strange security that possesseth
the hearts of men, when we are obliged to suffer the vengeance of the wrath of
the eternal God by our many sins, and yet can sleep quietly. Body and soul will
be taken away in execution; the day of payment is set, and may come much sooner
than you think for; you must get a discharge, or else you are undone for ever.
Our debt comes to millions of millions; well, if the Lord will forgive so great
a debt, oh, the blessedness of that man. Put altogether now; certainly if
you have ever been in bondage, if you have felt the sting of death and curse of
the law, or been scorched by the wrath of God, or knew the horror of those upon
whom God hath exacted this debt in hell, certainly you would be more and more
affected with this wonderful grace. ‘Oh, the blessedness of the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not his transgressions!’

Thirdly, The consequent benefits. I will name three:—

[1.] It restores the creature to God, and puts us in joint again, in a
capacity to serve, and please, and glorify God: Ps. cxxx. 4, ‘There is 186forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ Forgiveness invites us to return to God, obliges us to return to God,
and take it as
God dispenseth it; it inclines us to return to God, and encourages us
to live in a state of amity and holy friendship with God, pleasing and
serving him in righteousness and holiness all our days. Certainly it
invites us to return to God. Man stands aloof from a condemning
God, but may be induced to submit to a pardoning God. And it
obligeth us to return to God, to serve, and love, and please him who
will forgive so great a debt, and discharge us from all our sins; for
she loved much to whom much was forgiven. It inclines us to serve
and please God; for where God pardons he renews, he puts a new life
into us that inclines us to God: Col. ii. 13, ‘He hath quickened you
together with Christ, having forgiven all your trespasses.’ And it
encourages us to serve and please God: Heb. ix. 14, ‘How much more
shall the blood of Christ cleanse your consciences from dead works,
that ye may serve the living God?’ and that in a suitable manner,
that you may serve God in a lively, cheerful manner. A poor creature
bound to his law, and conscious of his own disobedience, and obnoxious
to wrath and punishment, is mightily clogged, and drives on heavily;
but when the conscience is purged from dead works, we serve the living
God in a lively manner; and this begets a holy cheerfulness in the
soul, and we are freed from that bondage that otherwise would clog
us in our duty to God.

[2.] It lays the foundation for solid comfort and peace in our own
souls, for till sin be pardoned you have no true comfort; because the
justice of the supreme governor of the world will still be dreadful to
us, whose laws we have broken, whose wrath we have justly deserved,
and whom we still apprehend as offended with us, and provoked by
us. We may lull the soul asleep with carnal delights, but the virtue
of that opium will be soon spent. All those joys are but stolen
waters, and bread eaten in secret, a poor, sorry peace, that dares not
come to the light and endure the trial,—a sorry peace, that is soon disturbed by a few serious and sober thoughts of God and
the world to
come; but when once sin is pardoned, then you have true joy indeed’ Be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee,’ Mat. ix. 2. Then misery
is plucked up by the roots: ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.’ Why? ‘Her
iniquity is forgiven,’ Isa. xl. 1, 2; ‘And we joy in God as those that have
received the atonement,’ Rom. v. 11. The Lord Jesus hath made the atonement;
but when we have received the atonement, then we joy in God, then there is
matter for abundant delight, when ‘the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost given unto us.’

[3.] When we are pardoned, then we are capable of eternal happiness. Pardon of sin is
gratia removens prohibens, that grace that
removes the impediment, that takes the make-bate out of the way,
removes that that hinders our entrance into heaven. Sanctification
is the beginning; but till we are pardoned, there can be no entrance
into heaven: now this removes the incapacity. I observe remission
of sins is but for all the privilege part, as repentance for the duties:
Acts v. 31, ‘Him hath God exalted to give repentance and remission
of sins.’ There are two initial benefits—repentance, as the foundation 187of the new life; and remission of sins, as the foundation of all our
future mercies. There are two chief blessings offered in the new
covenant, pardon and life, reconciliation with God, and the everlasting
fruition of him in glory; and the one makes way for the other: Acts
xxvi. 18, ‘To open their eyes, and to turn them from Satan to God,
that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among the
saints.’ When we are pardoned, then we are capable to look for the
blessed inheritance; the impediment is taken out of the way that
excludes from it.

And thus you see ‘the blessedness of the man whose
transgression is forgiven, whose filth is covered, and unto whom the Lord will
not impute his sin.’

A WORD OF APPLICATION.

1. Let us bless God for the Christian religion, where this privilege
is discovered to us in all its glory, and that upon very commodious
terms, fit to gain the heart of man, and to reduce him to God: Micah
vii. 18, ‘Who is a God like unto thee among all the gods, pardoning
the transgressions of thine heritage?’ The business of religion is to
provide sufficiently for two things, which have much troubled the
considering part of the world;—a suitable happiness for mankind,
and suitable means for the expiation of sin. Happiness is our great
desire, and sin is our great burden and trouble. Now these are fully
made known and discovered to us by the Christian faith. The last is
that we are upon,—the way how the grand scruple of the world may be
satisfied, and their guilty fears appeased; and that we may see the
excellency of the Christian religion above all religions in the world,
it offers pardon upon such terms as are most commodious to the
honour of God, and most satisfactory to our souls; that is, upon the
account of Christ’s satisfaction and our own repentance, without
which our case is not compassionable. The first I will chiefly insist
on. The heathens were mightily perplexed about the way how God
could dispense with the honour of his justice in the pardon of sin.
That man is God’s creature, and therefore his subject; that he hath
exceedingly failed and faulted in his duty and subjection to him, and
is therefore obnoxious to God’s just wrath and vengeance, are truths
evident in the light of nature and common experience; and therefore
the heathens had some convictions of this, and saw a need that God
should be atoned and propitiated by some sacrifices of expiation; and
the nearer they lived to the original of this tradition and institution,
the more burdened and pressing were their conceits and apprehensions
thereof. But in all their cruel superstitions there was no rest of soul;
they knew not the true God, nor the proper ransom, nor had any sure
way to convey pardon to them, but were still left to the puzzle and
distraction of their own thoughts, and could not make God merciful
without some diminution of his holiness and justice, nor make him
just without some diminution of his mercy. Somewhat they conceived
of the goodness of God by his continuing forfeited benefits so long: ‘God left them not without a witness;’ but yet they could
not reconcile it to his justice or will to punish sinners; and all their apprehensions of the pardon of sin were but probabilities,
and what was 188wrought to procure merit was ridiculous, or else barbarous and
unnatural, giving ‘their first-born for the sin of their soul,’ Micah vi. 7.
And all those notions they had about this apprehended expiation were
too weak to change the heart or life of man, or to reduce him to God.
Come we now to the Jews. The Jews had many sacrifices of God’s
own institution, but such as ‘did not make the comers thereunto perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,’ Heb. ix. 9; and the ransom that
was to be given to provoked justice was known but to a few. They
saw much of the patience and forbearance of God, but little of the
righteousness of God, and which was the great propitiation. Till ‘God set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation, through
faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that
believes in Jesus,’ Rom. iii. 25, 26. Their ordinances and sacrifices
were rather a bond acknowledging the debt, or pre-signifying the
ransom that was to be paid, and their sacrifices did rather breed
bondage; and their ordinances were called ‘an handwriting of ordinances that were against them.’ The redemption of souls was
then
spoken of as a great mystery, but sparingly revealed: Ps. xlix. 3, 4, ‘My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart
shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable, I will
open my dark sayings upon the harp.’ What was that wisdom?
What was that dark saying? ‘The redemption of souls is precious;
it ceaseth for ever.’ As it lies upon mere man’s hand, ‘none can give
a ransom for his brother.’ Eternal redemption by Christ was a dark
saying in those days, only they knew no mere man could do it. And
in more early times, in Job’s time, he was ‘an interpreter, one of a
thousand,’ that could bring this message to a distressed sinner, that
God had found out a ransom. This atonement, then, that lies at the
bottom of pardon of sin, was a rare thing in those days. Let us bless
God for the clear and open discovery of this truth, and free offer of
grace by Jesus Christ.

The second use is to quicken us to put in for a share in this blessed
privilege. I have spent my time in presenting to you what a blessed
thing it is to have our sins pardoned. Christians, a man that flows in
wealth and honour, till he be pardoned, is not a happy man. A man
that lives afflicted, contemned, not taken notice of in the world, if he
be a pardoned sinner, oh, the blessedness of that man! They are not
happy that have least trouble, but they that have least cause; not they
that have a benumbed conscience, but they that have a conscience
sound, established, and settled in the grace of God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, and bottomed upon his holy covenant, and that peace and grace
he offers to us; this is the happy man. By these and such like arguments I would have you put in for a share of this privilege.
But what
must be required? I would fain send you away with some directions.

Let me entreat you, if this be such a blessed thing, to make it your
daily, your earnest, your hearty prayer to God, that your sins may be
pardoned, Mat. vi. 12. Our Lord hath taught us to pray (for we
make but too much work for pardoning mercy every day), ‘Every day
forgive us our trespasses.’ To-day, in one of the petitions, is common 189to all that follow; as we beg daily bread, we must beg daily pardon,
daily grace against temptations, tinder the law, they had a lamb every
morning and every evening offered to God for a daily sacrifice, Num.
xxviii. 4-6. We are all invited to look to the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sins of the world. Surely we have as much need as
they more cause than they; because now all is clear, and openly made
known unto us. God came to Adam in the cool of the day; he would
not let him sleep in his sins: before night came, he comes and rouseth
his conscience, and then gives out the promise of the seed of the woman
that should break the serpent’s head. In reconciliation with God, let
not the sun go down upon God’s wrath, Eph. iv. 26. A man should
not sleep in his anger, nor out of charity with man; surely we should
make our peace with God every day. If a man, under the law, had
contracted any uncleanness, he was to wash his clothes before evening,
that he might not lie a night in his uncleanness. We should daily
earnestly come to God with this request, Lord, pardon our sins. But
what! must those that are already adopted into God’s family, and taken
into his grace and favour, daily pray for pardon of sin? Though upon
our first faith our state be changed, and we are indeed made children
of God, and heirs of eternal life by faith in Christ Jesus; yet he that
is clean, need wash his feet. We contract a great deal of sinful defilement and pollution by walking up and down here in a
dirty world;
and we must 1 every day be cleansing our consciences before God, and
begging that we may be made partakers of this benefit. The Lord
may, for our unthankfulness, our negligence, our stupid security, revive
the memory of old sins, and make us look into the debt-book (that
hath been cancelled) with horror, and make us ‘possess the sins of our
youth.’ An old bruise is felt upon every change of weather. When
we prove unthankful, and careless, and stupid, and negligent, and do
not keep our watch, the Lord may suffer these things to return upon
our consciences with great amazement. Guilt raked out of its grave
is more frightful than a ghost, or one risen from the dead. Few believers have, upon right terms, the assurance of their own
sincerity;
and though God may blot sins out of the book of his remembrance,
yet he will not blot them out of our consciences. The worm of conscience is killed still by the application of the blood of
Christ and the
Spirit. This short exhortation I would give you, the other would take
up too much time.